On Tuesday, October 12, the national nonpartisan youth
voter mobilization campaign ‘ReEnergize the Vote’ launched intensive get-out-the-vote (GOTV) efforts in Colorado, Nevada,
Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Texas. As
state voter registration deadlines were reached in Nevada and Oregon, organizers and volunteers with ReEnergize
the Vote – a landmark campaign spearheaded by the Sierra Student Coalition, an arm of the Sierra Club –
shifted its focus from voter registration to increasing the turnout of
thousands of young people in six key states in the upcoming elections.

"It’s
been hard, tiring work, but we’ve registered thousands of Oregon college students to
vote," said a Jonathan Tracy, a ReEnergize
the Vote organizer at Portland Community College-Sylvania."Now
we’ve got three weeks to seal the deal by making sure
all those young people cast their ballots by November 2."

Since
August, the ReEnergize the Vote campaign has registered more than 27,000 young
voters on 25 campuses who either voted for the first time in 2008 or will vote
for the first time in 2010.

On
Tuesday, ReEnergize
the Vote inaugurated the second phase of its campaign, a GOTV effort based on intensive,
personal contacts with young voters on dozens of college campuses, in urban
neighborhoods, and online.

Over the
next three weeks, ReEnergize the Vote organizers plan to collect more than
45,000 "Pledges to Vote," powerful commitments from
young voters to go out and vote this year. ReEnergize the Vote organizers will
also talk to thousands of young voters about Early Voting,
polling locations, and voting procedures on Election Day. Using online tools, customized text messages,
and other cutting-edge technology, ReEnergize the Vote will send voting
reminders, directions to polling locations, and other information to young
voters.

Beginning on October
30, the ReEnergize the Vote GOTV effort will conclude with a surge of activity
including Halloween "Trick or Vote" events and other efforts to remind tens of
thousands of newly-registered voters, Pledge-signers, and general student and
youth voter populations, to vote.

Despite
speculation that turnout among young voters in the 2010 midterm elections will
fall short of the record 22 million young voters in the 2008 national elections,
ReEnergize the Vote and Sierra Student Coalition organizers
report that the energy and enthusiasm of young voters is high.

"We’ve
heard from so many young
Americans who understand the importance of civic engagement and political
activism,” said Jordan Butler, ReEnergize
the Vote campus organizer in Reno, Nevada. "I know that despite
the obstacles — apathy, dissatisfaction with politics, hopelessness — young
voters will make their voices heard on November 2."

A bipartisan
poll commissioned in mid-September by Rock the Vote found that 77 percent of
the 44 million eligible voters aged 18-29 are very likely, or somewhat likely,
to vote. The poll also found that more than 83% of young voters believe that
they have the power to change things in this country, despite concerns about
the slow pace of change in Washington.